RE Update

Easter is a most significant time in our rich Catholic culture, and particularly during a time in history marked by significant suffering (the pandemic, floods, war and displacement throughout the world), Easter calls us to be people of peace, compassion and hope.

How do we respond to our own challenges? Our culture says suffering must be avoided at all costs, fixed quick by negotiation, regulation, money, technology, therapy, whatever it takes. When there’s no fix, those who suffer are put out of sight and out of mind. 

Easter proposes a different way of seeing things. We know that the way we undergo hard things can either ennoble us or demean us. We’ve seen in Judas and Peter how a moral lapse can end in self-destruction or in renewal. The mettle of all the apostles and holy women was tested in fact, and they came through it by the end of Eastertide on fire with God’s Spirit. In Holy Week the calibre of the civil and religious authorities of Jesus’ day was likewise examined, and in some cases found wanting…

On Holy Thursday Night we will see that Jesus is God-with-us: how He suffered all we do, not to trivialise suffering but to accompany us through it, and so made us a Church of fellow travellers who care and will administer the medicine of word and sacraments.

On Good Friday we will see that Jesus is not just God-with-us but God-for-us, given completely so we might live: He doesn’t just sympathise with our fears and sufferings but redeems them, bringing new possibilities and purpose, the ‘post-flood reconstruction’ for those renewed by Baptism.

And we will see on Easter day that Jesus is not just God-with-us and God-for-us but God-in-us, transforming our fears and suffering by divine grace into love. Jesus himself demonstrated that fear and suffering can be transfigured, as He was turned to pure light at Easter by the love with which He had endured the darkness the day before.

Prayer: 

As we enter the last weeks of Lent and Palm Sunday on 2nd April 2023, we pray… 

Dear God, 

Thank you for sending your Son and paving the way for our lives to be set free through Jesus’s death on the cross. 

Thank you for what this day stands for-the beginning of Holy Week, the start of the journey towards the power of the cross, the victory of the Resurrection, and the rich truth that Jesus is truly our King of Kings. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord…” 

We give you praise and honour for your ways are righteous and true. We give you worship for you are holy and just. We will declare that your love stands firm forever. For you, loving kindness endures forever. 

Thank you that your ways are far greater than our ways, your thoughts far deeper than our thoughts. 

Thank you that you had a plan to redeem. 

Thank you that you make all things new. 

Thank you that your face is towards the righteous, and you hear our prayers, and know our hearts. 

Help us to stay strong and true to you.

Help us not to follow after the voice of the crowds, but to press in close to you, to hear your whispers, and seek after you alone. 

We praise you, we bless you Lord! 

Amen

Sacramental Dates 2023

Sacrament of Confirmation (Grade 6)

• Presentation Mass - Saturday 6th May 2023 at 6pm (Grade 6B) - St Paul’s Church
• Presentation Mass - Sunday 7th May 2023 at 9:30am (Grade 6DL) - St Paul’s Church
• Family Confirmation Workshop - Monday 15th May 2023 at 7pm (online)
• Student Reflection Day - Friday 19th May 2023
• Celebration of the Sacrament – Wednesday 31st May 2023 at 6pm - St Paul’s Church

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Grade 3)

• Family Workshop  - 22nd May (online 7pm)
• Student Reflection Day - 25th May 
• Presentation to the Parish Community at 6pm on 27th May - Grade 3A 
• Presentation to the Parish Community at 9:30am on 28th May - Grade 3BA 
• First Individual Rite of Forgiveness on 3rd, 4th, 17th and 18th June

Sacrament of Eucharist (Grade 4) 

• Presentation to the Parish Community on Saturday 15 July 6pm - Grade 4C
• Presentation to the Parish Community on Sunday 16 July 9:30am - Grade 4LH
• Student Reflection Day (21 July)
• Family Workshop Online (17 July at 7pm)
• First Eucharist (22nd, 23rd, 29th, 30th July; 5th and 6th August)

Rebecca Nolan